Thursday, 28 August 2014

Among the romantic canals of Venice—and oh so many Italian distractions—can a stunning American lawyer and her psychic sister help the Ghosts of Venice solve a hushed-up crime?

Louisa Mangotti is a gorgeous American lawyer and Interpol expert who, after being offered a job working with the international crime unit in Venice, receives a mysterious postcard from the Venetian Ghosts, the ancient protectors of the Republic. But Louisa assumes her bad-boy ex, Matteo, sent it in a quixotic attempt to gain her attention. Louisa may have dismissed the ghosts, but the ghosts aren’t quite done with her.

When the bodies of two glassmakers wash up on Murano Island, the cryptic messages persist. Reluctantly, Louisa calls upon Matteo to help decipher the clues. And before she knows it, a flame that was never fully extinguished is rekindled. Sensing that her sister is in over her head, Barbara Mangotti rushes to the rescue, only to be lured away by two handsome Venetian men.

With time running out, can the two beauties solve a crime that could threaten the city of Venice itself?

Diana Cachey is a licensed attorney, published academic, and former adjunct law professor. She also holds a BA in English, and while in law school, she was the first female editor in chief of her university’s law review. The author of the novel Love Spirits, she has trained with several New York Times best-selling writers, including Robert Allen, with more than seventy-two million books sold. For more than a decade, Cachey has been traveling to Venice, the setting of her novel, on extended trips several times a year. The cafés, restaurants, and many other haunts of Venice play a prominent role in her sexy paranormal mystery-romance about a beautiful American lawyer guided by the Ghosts of Venice in the investigation of a hushed-up crime.

Tell us a little bit about your main characters. Louisa is a gorgeous American lawyer offered a job in the international crime unit of Venice who receives a mysterious postcard from the Venetian Ghosts. She assumes her bad-boy ex, Matteo, sent it to gain her attention. When the cryptic ghost messages persist, she calls upon Matteo to help decipher clues and flames that weren't fully extinguished are rekindled.

Sensing her sister is in over her head, shy Barbara rushes to Venice to rescue Louisa as usual. Instead, she is lured away by her own Venetian admirers, which slowly awakens her sensuality.

Handsome, wealthy Venetian male characters, like Matteo, woo the women with irresistible flair and charm. The mix is electric.

In your opinion, what makes a good strong female lead?Intelligence, independence, an inquisitive nature and the insatiable desire to live life fully.

Describe the setting of your book. Foggy canals, Carnival revelry, fantastic food, and the lured mazes of the most romantic city in the world, Venice, Italy set the tone. The scenes of the novel evoke Venice's centuries-old magical beauty filled with campos, gondolas, palaces, churches, museums, pastry shops, bars and secrets spots. This setting naturally teams with mystery and romantic interludes.

What is the best advice you have been given?Success and failure are on the same path, thus, to succeed you must hit bumps in the road. Don't take failure or yourself too seriously, instead, learn to deal with setbacks. Have some fun, celebrate your effort, then get back on the path. Never give up, never give up, never, never, never, as Winston Churchill put it. Don't be defeated by fear of failure.

How has your environment/upbringing colored your writing? My parents were teens when they got married and I grew up blue collar. Yet my family always encouraged us to fight, to work hard, to get ahead. My characters all have this fight in them, each with different manifestations of who they are in life. Whether it's the villain, the hero or a comic relief sidekick, they'll move mountains to get what they want. I also studied literature in college, which colored my writing style.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? Venice! When I love a place as much as I love Venice, I tend to go back often. I've traveled there every year since my first trip in 2002 and these trips were essential to learning both the Italian and Venetian languages used in my novels. The lead character, Louisa, lives in Venice, therefore, to know the town as well as her, I had to live there for extended periods too, right? I've been to every Venetian location mentioned in the novel and still have more to see.

I could also go to the Hawaiian Island of Kauai forever and never get bored. Sun, sea, surf, snorkeling, swaying trees and soft songs. What's not to love? As for places I haven't seen, two things on my bucket list are diving the Great Barrier Reef and viewing the Northern Lights. Epic, right?

Which do you prefer: hard/paperbacks or ebooks? I love to travel and pack light but I haven't gone all "E" with books, surprisingly. So it's paperback for me. Smaller is better.

What book are you reading now? Histories of Italy, Europe and the Eastern Empires. I want to learn as much as I can for future novels where I will continue to settle my characters in sexy locales to experience romance, mystery and supernatural events!

2 comments:

Dear Sheri, I am writing this from my favorite place -- Venice! Thanks so much for featuring my interview on your blog. Good luck to all who entered the giveaway. The books swags include a Venetian mask charm as well as a charm of the book cover. What Happens in Venice -- where shadows dance with the heart. Love you all, Diana Cachey

Dear Sheri, I am writing this from my favorite place -- Venice! Thanks so much for featuring my interview on your blog. Good luck to all who entered the giveaway. The books swags include a Venetian mask charm as well as a charm of the book cover. What Happens in Venice -- where shadows dance with the heart. Love you all, Diana Cachey